


First Aid

by Siria



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-21
Updated: 2007-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-03 19:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siria/pseuds/Siria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Uncle Mer?" Madison says from the doorway, and Rodney just about manages to bite back the instinctual "What? What? This is my vacation and I am trying to work," when he hears the tremulous quality of her voice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Aid

"Uncle Mer?" Madison says from the doorway, and Rodney just about manages to bite back the instinctual "What? What? This is my vacation and I am trying to work," when he hears the tremulous quality of her voice. He's learned very quickly that when it comes to Maddy, it's best to heed that tone—and that it's best to move fast when Maddy's sniffling and red-eyed, holding that damn stupid present from Sheppard in one hand while blood runs scarlet from both her knees, staining shoes and socks and floor alike.

"I was trying really hard," she says, words tumbling out quickly like she's trying to get her explanation out before her face crumples completely and the tears break through, "but there was a bump and I tripped and I fell and it hurts."

"Where are your knee pads?" Rodney snaps, hurrying over to her and kneeling down to inspect the damage—the cuts are bleeding freely, but they're not serious and they're not deep, thankfully. "Wrist guards? A helmet? Maddy, we've been through this, you can't use your skateboard if—oh, oh no. Please, please don't cry, it's okay, honestly, it's not serious, just—don't cry, if I break you, your mother will kill me and she's _terrifying_."

For some reason, that just makes Madison wrap both arms around him and press a face damp with tears and snot into his neck, openly howling now, chest and shoulders working as she gasps for breath. Rodney casts his eyes up to the ceiling and pleads for help—it's not like it's a technique which has helped him in any one of a dozen holding cells, but maybe this time one of the Asgard will take pity on him.

When no extraterrestrial help is forthcoming, Rodney picks Maddy up and carries her into the kitchen, settling her on the counter-top before digging out the first aid box. For a discipline that's supposedly voodoo, Rodney thinks, surveying the box's contents, it has an awful lot of trappings. He has a basic knowledge of field medicine, thanks to Carson's efforts; but something tells him that a six-year-old with two scraped up knees is an entirely different proposition to a stoic Marine who's been hit with a Wraith stunner, or a lieutenant colonel who doesn't want to recognise that "you've got a concussion" is Rodney's euphemistic attempt at saying "lie still, you are _such_ a jackass" in a comforting manner.

Definitely a different proposition, he thinks, by the time he's finished wiping up the traces of both tears and blood, dumped the shoes and socks—he's not even going to try to wash them—and bandaged Maddy's knees to her liking. This, apparently, requires the application of disinfectant wipes, antiseptic cream, and an entire roll of cotton bandages around each knee. It's all held in place with half a dozen Spiderman bandaids, whose location Maddy dictates, tears forgotten in her very earnest desire to make sure that each superhero lines up just so.

Rodney is relieved enough to have a calm and tear-free niece once more that he forgets to be suspicious when she says "Uncle Mer, can we play a game?" as he lifts her down, and says "Sure" without thinking about it.

If, when she comes home an hour later, Jeannie wants to laugh when she sees him, sprawled out on the couch with his arm in a badly-fashioned sling and his head bandaged, while Maddy carefully applies an obnoxiously pink Barbie band-aid to one of his cheekbones, she hides it well.

Rodney throws a cushion at her anyway.


End file.
